Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was a fundamental document in the history of the French Revolution, passed by France's National Assembly in August 1789. The Marquis de Lafayette introduced the declaration with help from Thomas Jefferson, the writer of the famous US Declaration of Independence, and the declaration promised that all citizens of the First French Republic were equal under the law, abolished slavery, and encouraged for the French people to be "active citizens". The declaration is one of the most fundamental human rights and civil rights documents in history, as France was one of the first European empires to outlaw slavery and to grant equality to its citizens.